


Mother Knows Best

by HoneySim



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Black Family Drama (Harry Potter), Black Family Tapestry (Harry Potter), Black Family-centric (Harry Potter), Child Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, Hurt No Comfort, Imperius Curse (Harry Potter), Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Legilimency (Harry Potter), Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Mind Manipulation, POV Regulus Black, Regulus Black Deserves Better, Regulus Black Feels, Regulus Black Needs a Hug, Regulus Black-centric, Walburga Black's A+ Parenting, regulus would be a good brother if sirius would let him, sirius runs away, the blacks are all dramatic and nobody can convince me otherwise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28623363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneySim/pseuds/HoneySim
Summary: Sirius runs away and Regulus is left with the immediate blow-back. His mother is angry, and she knows exactly how to take it out on her youngest son who is having thoughts of his own.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 55





	Mother Knows Best

**Author's Note:**

> TW: it is mentioned in the beginning that Sirius is severely injured (this includes mention of blood), the vaguest nod to an eating disorder, also heed the tags which are the more prominent TWs
> 
> Walburga becomes Mother Gothel when she dramatically recites 'Mother Knows Best' from Tangled word for word. Not my song, obviously. That will be bolded, including the small changes that I made to it for the song to make sense.

Regulus was lying on his bed when he heard shouting and Sirius running up the stairs. That’s all he was allowed to do nowadays since Mother forbade him from talking with Sirius. They’ve long since stopped utilizing the secret passage between their rooms. It was far too risky, not to mention the ever growing cavern that continues to erode away between the brothers.

He heard his brother run up the stairs and his mother yelling a multitude of slurs at him. It sounded worse than usual. Mother usually lets Sirius run upstairs and slam the door like a petulant child. She usually just locks him in his room and refuses him dinner as a punishment for that.

Regulus couldn’t help himself. He quickly and quietly padded across his room. He opened the door to peak out and nearly gasped at what he saw. 

His brother looked ashen as he ran up the stairs. He was covered in cuts and bruises. He twitched every once in a while, and there was something wrong with his foot but the running was doing a good job at hiding it. 

“You’re dead, Blood Traitor!” Their mother yelled from a few floors down. She never was fast, and the stairs always slowed her down, though nobody was allowed to acknowledge or mention it. 

Regulus opened his door wider. His eyes shifted to the staircase. He probably has a minute at best. His eyes flashed towards Sirius who was too preoccupied with running into his room to notice Regulus.

“Sirius,” Regulus whispers. “What happened? What did you do?”

Sirius jumped when he heard him. He turned to him and his eyes were wide and feral. He looked like a caged animal that knows it's being prepared for slaughter.

Then his demeanor changed. His brother sneered at him. It took everything in Regulus not to back away. “Fuck you, Regulus.”

“Wha--”

Their mother finally made it to the landing under them. “Come back here, you filthy vermin,” she spits. Both boys’ eyes widened. Regulus has never seen his mother so livid. _What the hell happened?_

Sirius dashed over to Regulus and ripped his wand out of his hands. “Oi!”

He blasted a knockback jinx towards their mother, and she stumbled down the few steps she was able to walk up. 

Sirius trained Regulus’s own wand on him. He held his hands up and walked back across the threshold of his room. His door slammed shut and locked.

He could hear Sirius’s door slam, and he put up wards to keep their mother at bay. Regulus knew that Sirius knew those wards would do little to hold their mother back from entering his room.

They would, however, buy him time.

_Oh._

Sirius doesn’t need to hold their mother out of his room for an indefinite amount of him. 

He won’t-- he won’t be in there for much longer. 

Regulus could hear that his mother made it up the stairs. She banged on the door, sending hex, after jinx, after curse toward it. To Sirius’s credit, the door didn’t budge for a solid ten minutes. 

He flinched when he heard the door break. Regulus prayed to whoever would listen that his brother was gone from the room. That he was hidden. That he was safe.

He heard his mother’s cry of-- anger? Agony? Anguish? 

Regulus couldn’t help but think, _What about me? Why leave me behind? What did I do wrong?_

After minutes of just standing in the middle of his room, staring dumbly at the door while listening to his mother yell out the window, he heard her start to move.

Her footsteps were purposeful and far heavier than usual. He thought she would head back downstairs to regale Father with what happened. His father never lowered himself so as to care for his children. It was always up to the nannies and governesses to take care of them, and it was up to Mother to punish them. Regulus rarely saw his father

Instead of turning towards the landing, his mother headed straight for his room.

Regulus gulped and tried to tame his emotions, his fear. 

She wandlessly flung open the door. He shrunk into himself, he couldn’t help it. His mother was somehow angrier than before. He didn’t know someone could be so angry, and he was still confused as to why she was angry.

Something obviously happened with Sirius. 

_Sirius is gone. He left._

Regulus couldn’t think what would anger his mother so, since she was livid before he had climbed out the window. 

His curiosity outweighed his fear. Regulus straightened up and started to say, “Moth--” but the woman in question grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him downstairs.

“Shut up.” Her tone was harsh and her grip was harsher. He shut his mouth as he tried his best not to trip down the stairs. She was slow going up the stairs, but she could fly down them in a second.

They ended up on the bottom floor. She flung open the door to the drawing room and shoved him inside, finally relinquishing her grip on him. Regulus stumbled a few steps but caught himself before he neared the ground.

“What does this mean to you?” Mother asked, gesturing at the whole room. He guessed she was referring to the tapestry that showed their proud lineage. 

“Family.” It took everything in him not to stutter at the word. He hoped his answer was right.

“And _what_ ” his mother looked him in the eye “does family mean to you, Regulus.”

He gulped and broke eye contact with his mother, favoring staring just above her eyes.

“It means everything. We’d be nowhere without our ancestors. I’d be nowhere without you.” He repeated words she’s told him before, hoping beyond hope it would work.

She seemed satisfied with his answer, and she stepped closer to him. Regulus had to resist the urge to step back.

 _Mother’s never hurt you. You’ve no reason to step back. She’s never hurt_ you.

“And Sirius? Is he family?” she asked.

What an absurd question. “Yes,” he responded without hesitation.

Instead of responding to her youngest, his mother turned around and walked towards the part of the tapestry where he knew his direct family were sewn into the fabric. She took her wand and in a dramatic display of magic burned a hole into the tapestry.

Without even being able to see who she burned off, he just knew. His eyes were wide. He couldn’t hide his shock at the display.

“And Sirius? Is he family?” she repeated her question.

Regulus hesitated. He wanted to say yes. Even despite their divide Regulus has always loved Sirius. Despite all the anger, envy, and dysfunction, Sirius was still his older brother. Nothing can change that. 

_Yes._

Mother didn’t like his lack of answer. She stormed up to him, and even though they were the same height she towered over him.

“You insolent boy. Answer me!” Regulus stepped back, and she followed. This time her voice was low, calculated, as if the wrong syllable will get him in deep trouble. “Is Sirius your brother?”

He made the mistake of making eye contact with her. He could feel her poking around inside his head. Memories of them as kids flitted by his mind’s eye. More recent memories of them just a year or two ago would go by too. 

_It’s astonishing_ , Regulus thought to himself, _how so much can change in a year. Last year we could still talk civilly._

The newly made memory of Sirius leaving came forward. He could tell his mother could feel the pain and confusion Regulus felt and still feels when he realized Sirius was leaving without him.

Regulus broke eye contact with his mother and stumbled back a little.

“So,” his mother sneered. “You _miss_ him.” She let out a short mocking laugh. “How _novel_.” The words were drawn out. 

Regulus daren’t let out a single sound or movement.

“You wanted to go with him!” She laughed again, flinging her arms out for emphasis. Despite himself, he flinched. 

Her eyes darkened. “He told me you knew, Regulus. Blamed it on you. Tell me, _my pet_ . Why didn’t you inform us of your brother’s _preferences_.” She spit out the last word like it was the worst thing on the planet. 

Realization dawned, and Regulus’s eyes flashed.

_They couldn’t have found out could they? How? I was willing to take that to the grave! Sirius thinks I told them? He thinks I betrayed him like that?_

He took too long to respond. “Regulus Arcturus Black! Answer me when I speak to you!”

“I--” he doesn’t know what to say. “He told me it was a mistake. A--” _Think, Regulus._ “A prank gone wrong.”

Mother’s eyes darkened. “You’re lying to me, Regulus. You’ve one more try.”

Regulus stayed silent. He figured staying silent would be better than saying he was trying to protect Sirius. 

“Tell me, Regulus. Do you like boys too? Because we can fix you.” As his mother spoke she walked closer to him.

“ _What_ , no!” His voice came out more disgusted that he meant it to. He found the idea of liking anyone abhorrent, not just boys. It seemed his dramatics helped his cause since his mother gave the slightest nod of approval. 

“Then why didn’t you tell us?” She was back to looming over Regulus again.

“Mo-- Mother. I--” 

“Don’t lie to me again, _boy_. I won’t have it.” She cut him off.

“I’ve no excuse, Mother.” His shoulders tensed in wait for her reaction. 

She grabbed his face and made him look into her eyes. “To your room, no tea, no supper, and don’t come out unless I send for you.”

He tried to force his thoughts of Sirius leaving out of his mind. He tried not to think about his own bedroom window. It didn’t work, and he knew his mother used Legilimency to look into his mind at that moment. He was screwed. 

Her grip tightened around his jaw. “ **You want to leave? Why, Regulus, look at you, as fragile as a flower. Still a little sapling, just a sprout. You know why we stay up in this townhouse…** ”

Regulus did his best to nod with his face still being gripped by her.

“ **That's right, to keep you safe and sound, dear.** ” Mother finally let go of his jaw, and she dramatically brought her hand to her forehead. “ **Guess I always knew this day was coming, knew that soon you'd want to leave the nest. Soon, but not yet. Trust me, _pet_. Mother knows best.**”

His mother backed away from him and with a flick of her wand the door slammed and all light in the room was extinguished. Since Regulus didn’t have his wand he was helpless to whatever his mother was doing. Not that he’d dare defy her anyway.

His mother lit a singular candle. “ **Mother knows best. Listen to your mother. It's a scary world out there.** ”

If Regulus wasn’t so petrified of what she might do, he would have laughed at the dramatic flourish his mother put behind her words.

“ **Mother knows best. One way or another, something will go wrong, I swear! Ruffians, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals, and snakes. The plague!** ”

Regulus’s eyes were wide. Whether it was from the darkness of the drawing room or the content of what his mother was saying, he’d never admit. 

Mother continued without notice to him. “ **Also large bugs. Men with pointy teeth, and stop, no more, you'll just upset me.** ” She brought her hand to her heart, and walked over to Regulus. She wrapped him in a hug. “ **Mother's right here. Mother will protect you.** ”

He stilled, doesn’t hug her back.

She tutted. “Now this won’t do.” She backed up and uttered a word he never thought he’d hear her utter. “ _Imperio_.” 

A little voice in his head told him to hug her. Regulus scrunched up his face in an attempt to stop it, to gain his free will back.

But he failed.

He hugged her.

Mother smoothed his hair down. “ **Darling, here's what I suggest: skip the drama, stay with mama. Mother knows best.** ”

The little voice in his head told him to stop hugging her now, and he felt the connection stop. He gasped as if he couldn’t breathe. Maybe he couldn’t. 

She relit the lights, and she stepped back from him and dramatically said, “ **Go ahead, get trampled by a rhino. Go ahead, get mugged and left for dead! Me, I'm just your mother, what do I know?** ”

His mother moved toward him and caressed his cheek. “ **I only bathed, and changed, and nursed you.** ” He stumbled back from her and fell to the ground.

 _No,_ he thought. _You didn’t._

He’s confused and panicked. His mother didn’t really just use the Imperius Curse on him. Did she?

“ **Go ahead and leave me, I deserve it.** ” She turned away from him and walked across the room. 

_Yes, you do._

She whirls around, her cloak billowing behind her. He flinched for fear that she heard his thoughts. “ **Let me die alone here, be my guest! When it's too late, you'll see, just wait. Mother knows best.** ”

He wished he could leave, but he knew any and all attempts he will ever make will always fail.

He’ll be stuck here forever.

With a wave of Mother’s wand he was on his feet again.

“ **Mother knows best.** **Take it from your mumsy. On your own, you won't survive. Sloppy, underdressed, immature,** **_clumsy_** **.** ” She gestured towards his overall body.

Regulus looked down.

 _Sloppy? Am not!_ he thought petulantly.

Mother continued with her berating of him. “ **Please, they'll eat you up alive!** ”

_They will._

“ **Gullible, naïve, positively grubby, ditzy and a bit, well, hmm…** ” she put her hand up to her chin in mock thought “ **v** **ague.** ” Mother threw her head back and laughed.

“ **Plus, I believe, getting kinda chubby.** ” She pinched his cheek. 

_I thought I wasn’t fat anymore! I barely eat._

She patted his cheek with the same hand that pinched it. “ **I'm just saying because I love you. Mother understands. Mother's here to help you. All I have is one request.** ” She grabbed his face and forced him to look at her again. He heard the whispered _Imperio_.

“ **Regulus?** ” she prompted him.

“ **Yes, Mother?** ” he found himself replying.

“ **Don’t ever think about leaving, again.** ” Suddenly all thoughts of leaving Grimmauld Place vanished from his head. She let go of his face.

The voice told him to nod and say “ **Yes, Mother,** ” again.

His mother smirked. “ **I love you very much, dear.** ”

The curse made him smile, hug her, and say, “ **I love you more.** ” _I hate you._

“ **I love you most,** ” she responded while smoothing down his hair. She pulled back and looked him in the eye. “ **Don’t forget it. You’ll regret it. Mother knows best.** ”

They weren’t just words. They were a command that the curse took quite literally. 

“Up to your room, now,” his mother started. “Your punishment still stands. No food for the rest of the night, and no leaving your bedroom unless I send for you.”

He unwillingly nodded. “Yes, Mother.” His body started walking out of the drawing room.

“Oh, and Regulus?” His body turned and he could feel that his eyebrow had been raised. “Don’t think about Sirius, and forget about the fact I’ve Imperiused you.” With a nod he turned to leave.

He walked up to his room even though all Regulus wanted to do was run out the front door or go through the floo. He couldn’t fathom why he would want to do such a thing. Did it have to do with--? He blinked.

_What was I just thinking about?_

He laid in his bed for the rest of the night, thinking of nothing with the exception of one thought. He was screwed.

He didn’t know _why_. Anytime he tried to think about it he lost his train of thought.

It was infuriating.

There was a little nagging voice in the back of his head that told him to go to sleep, and he was inclined to do just that.

His last thought was, _That’s new._

**Author's Note:**

> It's my personal headcanon that the Blacks used physical abuse to keep Sirius in line and emotional abuse to keep Regulus in line, and this song perfectly fit into Walburga emotionally manipulating Regulus to stay after Sirius left. Hope I did it justice; I've had this idea in my head for a while.


End file.
